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  • Today's business and finance round up 26th October 2021

Today's business and finance round up 26th October 2021

💷Living wage set for 7% rise

26th October 2021

Good morning Electric car maker Tesla touched the $1tn valuation mark for the first time after it received an order for 100,000 of its vehicles from the rental company Hertz.Tesla joins an elite group of companies to reach the landmark and is the first non-tech firm to do so. In 2018 Apple became the first company to ever to be valued at $1tn and was then followed by Amazon, Google’s parent company Alphabet, Facebook and Microsoft.

Today's stories

  • Living wage set for 7% rise

  • Loan performance boosts HSBC

ECONOMYLiving wage set for 7% rise

What’s going on?Ahead of tomorrow’s autumn budget, the government has announced that the national living wage will rise from £8.91 to £9.50 an hour from next April.

Why is this important?

The national living wage is what the government has called the national minimum wage for anybody above 22-years-old since 2016.It’s the lowest amount that can legally be paid to employees and is adjusted every April.The 6.6% increase will impact over 2m people and is worth £1,074 a year for a full-time worker – but that’s before tax and the rising cost of living that could swallow up the gain.Although the increase is above the current inflation rate of 3.1%, it comes into effect next April after a winter of surging energy bills and petrol prices. Also the recent Universal Credit cut of £20 a week and the announcement of the increase in National Insurance means millions of households will see their incomes decrease.TakeawayOn the surface a 6.6% pay rise for millions of workers sounds generous but in an environment of rising prices, tax increases and benefits cuts it could be a damp squib.

BANKLoan performance boosts HSBC

Yesterday HSBC kicked off a busy week of company quarterly results when it reported a 74% increase in profits for the three months to September.The London-headquartered bank reported a pre-tax profit of £3.9bn, easily beating the £2.8bn expected by analysts.The jump in profits was driven by the £500m in cash the bank released, having been previously set aside in case bad loans spiked during Covid.The bank feels confident that the worse of the pandemic is behind it with its loan book performing better than previously expected. This confidence led it to announce a share buyback programme to give $2bn to shareholders.HSBC’s strong performance comes days after fellow lender Barclays reported record profits driven by mortgage lending and a rise in investment banking activity. High street banks NatWest and Lloyds are also due to announce their third-quarter numbers later this week.

Stat of the day

Petrol prices have hit 142.94p a litre, their highest level ever

Other stories to keep you in the loop

  • Facebook earns $9bn despite whistleblower scandal

  • London Stock Exchange poised to list first company with all-female board

  • Top investor calls on Just Eat to sell Grubhub only four months after the acquisition

  • London’s Michelin-star meal delivery app raises £2.4m to fuel expansion

  • ITV to end petrol and diesel car giveaways as part of Net Zero climate plan

Interesting links from around the web

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